Selling When Out of Stock (Negative Stock)

What Negative Stock Does

Sometimes a customer wants an item that shows 0 in stock — and you can still get them the physical piece immediately. With Allow Negative Stock enabled, the sale goes through and the stock count goes below zero (-1, -2, -3…). Fixmo writes one pending record per oversold piece so nothing is forgotten, and covers those records automatically when stock arrives.

Enabling the Setting

Negative stock is a shop-wide setting, off by default.

1. 1Open Settings → Inventory.
2. 2Find the Negative Stock section and switch it on.
3. 3From now on, out-of-stock items can be added to the POS cart — the product card shows the real number (e.g. -3) instead of blocking the sale.

How Covering Works — Fully Automatic

Example: Tempered Glass shows 0 and you sell 3 — stock reads -3 and three pending records appear on the item's edit page (with the sale code, seller, and date). Later a purchase order brings 10 pieces: stock becomes 7, the three records are covered automatically (oldest first), and you get a notification. There is no confirmation step.

• Stock arriving via purchase orders and manual restocks both cover pending records.
• Partial deliveries cover partially: at -3, receiving 2 leaves 1 pending.
• The inventory list shows a red negative count and an 'owed' badge while records are pending.

Serial-Tracked Items — Owed by Exact Serial

Serial-tracked items never show a negative quantity, because the number of in-stock serials always equals the stock count. Overselling one requires typing the serial of the physical piece at sale time (the POS cart has a 'type a serial' input when negative stock is on). The item then shows as owed on its edit page.

1. 1Sell the item and type the piece's serial number in the cart — warranty tracking works as usual.
2. 2When a stock entry later lists that exact serial, Fixmo recognizes it as the already-sold piece: it is not added as new stock, it is not counted in the quantity credit, and the owed record clears.
3. 3If the serial never arrives, an admin can cover it manually: restock quantity 1 with that exact serial — the record clears without changing stock.

Voids, Refunds & Corrections

Reversals keep the books straight automatically:

• Voiding an oversold sale clears its pending records — the void's stock restore already fixes the numbers.
• Refunds with Restock settle the returned pieces' records; Defective / No-Restock refunds keep them (the stock gap still exists).
• Removing an oversold part from a repair clears its records without inventing stock.
• Typing a stock quantity directly in the edit page warns you first, then resolves pending quantity records as manually covered.

Profit Reporting

Oversold pieces use the item's cost price at the moment of sale — every sale line now stores a cost snapshot, so past profit reports no longer shift when a later purchase order changes the item's average cost. Entering the real cost you paid for an oversold piece is planned for a future update.